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Hello all my gorgeous readers! I did some nail art over the weekend and I have been just so mesmerized by the result that I haven’t even been able to bring myself to write it up for you. That’s because I kept stopping to stare at my nails. This mani probably ranks up there in one of my favorite that I’ve -ever- done. I hope that you will enjoy it! To be fair, while it’s not an impossible bit of nail art people who are new to nail art may find it a bit more challenging because today (or this past weekend, whatever…) we water marble! In true Relly fashion though, at every step I thought, “oh I love this…but what if I added this?!” Then, I did it. The result was much better than I anticipated.

Let’s start off with what you need for water marbling. You’ll need 2 or more polishes (creme polishes work best, but, some jellies and holographic polishes will also work well but you’ll want to avoid polishes with glitter or flakies), white nail polish, a small cup with filtered room-temperature water, an orange stick or water marbling tool, q-tips, cuticle barrier of your choice (tape, liquid latex, vinyl cuticle shields, etc.), and base and topcoats.

I started with five polishes from the Bohemian Polish Washed Out 2.0 collection. When I want something Springy, bright, cheerful, and great for nail art I usually reach for these:

Bohemian Polish – Washed out 2.0

First you will prep your nails. Apply basecoat and then a layer of white polish. I only did one coat and I didn’t worry about it being a perfect finish, it’s going to be covered up after all:

Step 1

Next, apply your cuticle barrier. I used Digital Nails – Questionable Browser History which is a liquid latex product, but you can easily use tape or those handy vinyl cuticle barriers (that are latex-free!) that I’ve seen around. If you’re using liquid latex you’ll definitely want to go a ways up your finger, you’ll see later I didn’t go quite high enough!

Step 2

Then, you’re going to create a bullseye in your cup of water by dripping one drop of nail polish color into the water alternating with each color until it forms a bullseye. It should look something like this:

Step 3

Using an orange stick, tooth pick, water marble tool, or other pointy thin tool carefully drag it through the colors until you create a pattern that pleases you. I kept this one pretty simple:

Step 4

Next aim your fingernail at a slight angle toward the part of the pattern you would like to be on your nail then dunk your nail gently into the nail polish pattern. Using a cotton swab gently collect the excess polish from around your finger so that it doesn’t get transferred to your nail. Gently remove your finger from the water. Take care not to move too quickly and work at a bit of an angle to avoid bubbles as much as possible.

Step 5

Now, you can totally see why you need that cuticle barrier! Cleaning that up would be a right mess! Gently remove your cuticle barrier and clean up any stray areas with acetone and a clean up brush that you couldn’t protect with the barrier and apply topcoat. Floating the topcoat will help avoid smears.

Step 6

Now…this is where most people would be like, “YAY, a successful water marble! Let’s stop here.” I am clearly not most people because what I said is, “Oh, let’s add flakies!” So I did. I added a generous layer of Digital Nails – Hyperbole which gave the whole look a shifty iridescent quality. It’s subtle but when it catches the light it’s lovely!

Water Marble Design topped with Digital Nails – Hyperbole

Again, I said to myself, “what else can I do?!” so I stamped butterfly wings using Vivid Lacquer – VL002 over top:

Final Look

Final Look

Final Look

Ahhh, and then I was finally satisfied. This turned out so cheerful, happy, and pretty that I could have been more pleased. This is probably the most successful water marble I’ve done. They take practice and patience but the result is so great that it’s worth it!

You can find Bohemian Polish, Vivid Lacquer, and Digital Nails at the stalker links below. As usual, I’d love to hear from you! This is definitely a win in my book. I hope you really like it as well! Don’t forget you can find me on social media by using the big pink buttons to the right! Until next time I hope your days are filled with glitter and flakies!

Hello again, Readers! I promised two posts this week and I like to live up to my promises!

Today I’m going to show you something that combines two of my favorite things, stamping and Digital Nails nail polish. I don’t think it’s any secret whatsoever about my love and devotion to all things Digital Nails!

Digital Nails – Lying (transition)

Let’s talk about Lying and shadow stamping for a minute. As you can see, Lying is a thermal polish and what that means, in case you were unaware or are new to indie polish, is that it changes color with the temperature. Shadow stamping is a technique that involves stamping over a thermal polish in a color that is as close to the darker of the two colors as possible so that it “disappears” when it is in that color state and “appears” when the lighter color is present.

Digital Nails – Lying (transition)

Digital Nails – Lying (transition)

On Lying the darker color is the “cold” color and is a greyish-purple. I love this color on me. In order to achieve my shadow stamping I had to franken a polish to be as close as I could to the “cold” color of Lying. I used polishes that I knew stamped well alone to mix up a new color that I used to stamp for this mani.

Digital Nails – Lying (cold)

As you can see, I got -pretty- close. It’s not perfect but when you’re not looking at it close up you can’t see the stamping when it is in the cold state!

Digital Nails – Lying (cold)

Digital Nails – Lying (cold)

Lying is a beautiful turquoise color when it is in the warm state:

Digital Nails – Lying (warm)

In both states there is a lovely blue iridescent microglitter that is in the creamy base that just adds depth and interest. It was pretty shy for these pics but it is a lovely addition to the thermal polish! Lying is available in the Digital Nails shop and I will add links below. I used Vivid Lacquer – VL041 for the image that I stamped onto my nails.

Digital Nails – Lying (warm)

Digital Nails – Lying (warm)

I’m beyond in love with this polish and this whole mani. I need more thermals in my life! Sound off in the comments and tell me some of your favorite thermals I would love to know!

Crumpet’s Nail Tarts came together to show off the art on their hands…

Hello my most fabulous readers! Ok, ok so I’m not really a poet of any merit, but, it IS the night before Halloween and yes Crumpet’s Nail Tarts are celebrating this holiday in force! I’m going to show you my Halloween-themed nail art and guess what it wasn’t that hard! Anyone can do it!

40 Great Nail Art Ideas – Halloween

Ooooh yeah! I’m actually having a lot of fun with freehand nail art these days. This is a combination of freehand art and stamped art and I thought it turned out pretty cute! And yes (except for the black and white) it’s all indies!

I started with a base of Pretty & Polished Thyme and Time Again. On my two middle fingers I hand-painted Frankenstein and his bride (I was inspired by a nail art video I saw but it was randomly on my facebook feed and I couldn’t find it again to credit where my inspiration came from). My Frank is a little weird but I’m still fantastically happy with this considering my novice-level skill! I used Octopus Party Nail Lacquer – Universal Loner for the touches of red.

40 Great Nail Art Ideas – Halloween

On the other fingers I added a gradient to the Thyme and Time again base using Pretty & Polished – Amethyst or Am I That? and Bohemian Polish – Long Gone. I then stamped over the gradient nails with an image from Vivid Lacquer – VL041.

All in all I’m calling this a win! Do you like this too? Do you think you might give something like this a shot? I definitely suggest that everyone branch out of their comfort zone now and then, which is why I joined this nail art challenge. I hope ya’ll are enjoying it as much as I have been. Sound off in the comments I love to hear from you.

P.S. Don’t forget that Boom Shaka Lacquer’s Two-Year Blogiversary Giveaway is going on until December 1, 2015 and there are some FANTASTIC prizes. You definitely don’t want to miss out. Click Here to find out more!